A Rescue of a Different Kind
by Balek
Summary: Alan is trapped in a burning building, alone and running out of time. Thankfully, his brothers are on their way to rescue him. The question is, will they get there in time to save him?


**A/N: I had three ideas for stories, which I started writing down. Sadly, only one has come to fruition. The others may develop, or they may not, who can tell. Anyway, enough babbling! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Thunderbirds are creation and property of the Andersons!**

* * *

"ALAN? ALAN! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Scott squinted around him, trying to pierce through the thick, swirling smoke around them, searching for any sound or sign of his missing brother, but there was nothing. Nothing but the crackling of the fire behind them and the sound of his breathing through his mask.

"Dammit..."

A voice crackled through his earpiece. "Scott, I doubt he can hear you, but we can. Next time, switch off your mic before you yell like a banshee..."

"Sorry Virge." Scott apologised to the barely visible figure just off to his right.

"Yeah, or at least give us fair warning before you burst our eardrums..." Another voice crackled through, this time Gordon's.

Scott squinted again as a bright torch was pointed in his eyes. "Yeah, alright, I said I was sorry Gords. Now quit blinding me would ya?"

With a huff, Gordon lowered the light, just as yet another voice crackled in.

"Do I get an apology too? You owe me a new set of speakers Scotty."

"Oh come on. I know for a fact that you've got volume control up there, John." Gordon interjected. "We, on the other hand, got the full 300 decibels straight in our lugholes."

"So did I!" John retorted. "I couldn't hit the button quick enough. The whole place is still echoing you know..."

"I didn't yell that loud!"

"Yeah, you did." Gordon grumbled, starting to wish he could rub at his still-ringing ear through his helmet.

"I did not!"

Off to the side, Virgil sighed in exasperation. Even though he was, apparently, the most mature of the lot of them, it was surprising how quickly Scott could get into a bickering match. But this was not the place for him to showcase his leadership skills, they had work to do, and quickly.

"GUYS!" He yelled, succeeding in shutting them all up. "This is not the time for arguments. Alan is in here somewhere, missing, alone and possibly dying!"

The other three lapsed into silence as Virgil's words sunk in. He did have a point. The whole reason that they were in this burning building risking their lives in the first place was to rescue their youngest brother, and while they had protective gear and breathing packs, Alan had none of that.

"Sorry, you're right. We've gotta get moving." Scott mumbled, embarrassed that he had allowed himself to get carried away like that. If there was anyone desperate to find Alan, it was him. They started off again through the thick smoke, their strong torches barely lighting up the distance between them. "John, do you have his position?"

"'Fraid not." John replied. "His transmitter is non-functional as of 5 minutes ago. All I can say, going by his last position, that he's on the floor you're currently on."

"Well, that rules out three at least." Gordon noted, ducking under a low beam that blocked his path.

"Was he moving?" Virgil asked. He knew Alan had training as to what to do in this situation, but, even with that knowledge, his prospects weren't looking good if they didn't locate him quickly.

"Yes, but very slowly. He can't have got far, and anyhow, the smoke may have got to him by now."

"Damn." The medic muttered. If Alan was unconscious, while it may make finding him easier, it also meant that he didn't have long left. "We need to find him."

"Agreed." Scott said, shining his flash-light to and fro, looking out for any sign of someone in the grey gloom stretching out around them. They continued through the room, watching out for any signs, both of their brother and of the structural integrity of the building they were in. It was on fire after all, and they didn't fancy getting trapped as well.

They made it to a doorway, and Gordon went on ahead. As Scott and Virgil had one final look back on the room they were currently in, a shout suddenly came down their earpieces, causing them to jump.

"HE'S HERE!" Gordon yelled, and Scott understood the reason why he had annoyed them earlier. A full blown shout certainly did hurt the eardrum. But that didn't matter now, Gordon had found Alan, and they barrelled as quickly as they could through the door, silently cursing the restrictive and bulky protective clothing they were wearing.

"John, we've got him." Scott said into his earpiece as they ran, following the protocol that insisted that they keep whoever was manning Five up to date on the current situation, and anyway, it was only fair, Alan was John's brother too.

Through the smoke they could vaguely see the shape of someone kneeling down, and they shot towards it. As they got closer they could see it was Gordon, who was bending over the welcome sight of their baby brother. And what a sight he was. His clothes were ripped and black with soot, and he didn't look much better. He was unconscious and unmoving, just as they had all feared.

"Oh jeez." Virgil muttered, immediately kneeling down and checking for a pulse in his brother's neck whilst Scott unpacked the spare breathing kit from his backpack.

"Is...Is he still with us?" The field commander asked as he briefly struggled with a knot in the tube.

"Just about." The medic replied, holding out a hand for the mask, which Scott passed over, having untied the knot. Virgil secured it over Alan's face while Scott activated the sir flow. "We need to get him out quickly though."

"Virge." Gordon said, catching his brothers attentions. He pointed to Alan's leg, on which there was a large amount of blood, coming from a gash down his calf. Virgil scrambled over and inspected the wound.

"Hmm, it's not good, but it can wait, it won't kill him. For now, we need to get out of here, this building could go at any moment. Scott, can you carry him?"

"Yep." Scott shifted position and picked up his baby brother and lifted him onto his shoulder, before getting onto his feet himself. Following close behind, Virgil carried Alan's oxygen pack and kept a close eye on his unconscious sibling, watching out for any change. Gordon lead ahead with two flash-lights, guiding them through the ever-increasing smoke. This time though, they remembered the way, and it took less time to get out than it had to get in, and , although to them it felt like an age, they emerged out into the sunlight, As soon as they stepped out, Scott gave the signal, and around them the multitude of fire-fighters set to work at extinguishing the flames instead of controlling them as they had been while the three of them had been searching inside.

Once they were far enough from the building, Scott gently placed Alan down on the damp ground, and then started to quickly strip off his kit. The sudden coldness on his back, a far cry from the heat he had been in for so long, managed to jolt Alan back into the waking world, where he immediately began coughing and spluttering.

"Easy Al, easy." Scott soothed, making sure the air flow into the mask was sufficient and stroking his brother's brow. "Deep breaths, deep breaths." As Alan continued to splutter, Scott glanced at his other two siblings, one of whom was working on the gash on Alan's leg while the other checked him over for any other injuries.

The coughing and spluttering was replaced by ragged breathing, and Scott looked down in alarm to see a pair of wide, panic-filled eyes staring straight back at him.

"Scott...I'm sorry..." Alan managed to gasp as started to lose the fight to stay conscious.

"Alan? Alan! No, no, no. Stay with me, kid, stay with me!" Scott babbled as he watched his baby brother slip away from him and go limp in his arms. The young man's eyes slowly slid shut and his breathing slowed as his body started to give up the fight against the smoke inhalation. "Virgil!"

"Hang on!" Virgil stopped working on bandaging Alan's leg, instead shoving the supplies into Gordon's hands for him to continue as he shot to Scott's side, his hand immediately going to the side of Alan's neck, checking for his pulse. "Come on kid. Don't give up on me now."

They worked feverishly, determined to not let Alan's life slip away. He had too much potential, he was too young to die in what was just a silly accident. They couldn't lose him, not now, not ever.

As they worked, a shadow slowly fell over them, causing them to stop and look up. Below them, Alan's eyes snapped open, and he took looked up at the newly arrived figure standing above his head.

"Hey Dad!" He said brightly, his voice slightly muffled by the mask on his face. "Is that it? Are we done?"

Smiling, Jeff looked down at his four sons, who were looking back at him expectantly. "Yes, boys. That's it. Well done, all of you."

An audible sigh of relief could be heard, and they all visibly relaxed, the pressure having been taken off of them.

"Training complete John." Jeff said into his earpiece, knowing his son up on the space station was listening in. "Everyone safe and accounted for."

"FAB." Came the reply.

"Phew." Alan said as he sat up, taking off the oxygen mask and handing it back to Virgil, while Gordon unwrapped his leg and started cleaning off the fake blood. "That was an interesting experience to say the least..."

"How did we do?" Scott asked as he got to his feet, using his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his brow.

"Not bad at all." Jeff replied as he gave Gordon a hand up. Virgil and Alan stayed on the ground, packing away the medical equipment. "You took six minutes to find Alan and another two to get him out, but you could have been quicker had you not all started arguing in there..."

"Ah. Yeah. Bit unfortunate that." Scott said sheepishly, scratching at his cheek. "Won't happen again. Promise."

"I hope so too." Jeff replied, the corner of his mouth curling upwards in a small smile. "Can't have those sorts of delays out in the field. Understood?"

"Yes Sir."

"Otherwise, you were efficient, knowledgeable, and all in all, a fine Field Commander, son, so well done." Jeff gave Scott a hearty slap on the back before turning to his red-headed son. "Gordon, good job in being the one to find Alan. I know that this was a big step away from your usual comfort zone."

"Aw, well." Gordon blushed with pride. "It was nothing really."

"It was not nothing, Gordon, you did a grand job."

"Yeah Gords." Alan added, hopping onto his feet and brushing himself down. "If that wasn't a drill, I would owe you my life. So thanks, I suppose."

"You're not too bad yourself Al." Gordon noted, trying to shift the attention off himself. "You're one hell of an actor."

"Well, I try my best." Alan shrugged.

"Seriously kid, you're good." Scott said, draping an arm over his baby brother's shoulders. "You almost had me fooled for a minute there."

"Yeah, just don't decide to do that as a prank one day, ok?" Virgil pointed out, standing up and joining in on the conversation.

"Aw, that was our plan for the next one, wasn't it Gords?"

"Yeah, shame." Gordon grinned. "We'll just have to think of something even better now won't we?"

"Oh God help us..." Jeff muttered, just loud enough for Scott and Virgil, as well as John through the earpiece, to here, and they all agreed with him. It looked like they would need to find many a job to keep these two separate for a while, otherwise it looked like a major prank was on the horizon.

As they continued their debriefing, somebody cleared their throat behind them, and they all turned to see who it was.

"I trust everything went according to plan?" The fire-fighter, the Fire Chief to be exact, asked them, absently twirling the end of his moustache with his fingers.

"Perfectly Sir." Jeff beamed. "The boys did splendidly, and our co-ordinator in our, erm, navigational centre, said it went off without a hitch."

"Good. Excellent." The Chief declared, beckoning to Jeff to follow him, which he did, leaving his sons to pack away the rest of their equipment. "I tell you what Mr Tracy, had those boys of yours been just a bit quicker in there, they would have put my lot to shame."

"Well, they certainly are good when they set their minds to something, that's for sure."

"There's just one thing I don't understand Mr Tracy." The Chief said, coming to a halt.

"What's that Sir?" Jeff asked, puzzled as to what the question could be.

"Why did you come here? Why did you decide that your boys needed to be thrown into such a situation as that and that they had to rescue one of their own as well? We have dummies made for that exact purpose, there was no need for your lad to pretend to be injured, although I must say, he certainly is a good actor."

"Ah, well, you see, they've been needing to work out their differences for a very long time, and this seemed like an excellent opportunity to straighten out those rifts, and give them some much needed fire safety training. Ans I discovered long ago that if they truly believe one of their siblings is in danger, they seem to work so much more efficiently. Plus, I think Alan just wanted to do it for the hell of it, he's kinda like that."

"Hmmm, I see..." The Chief pondered for a moment. "Bit of an adrenaline junkie is your youngest is he?"

"Yes, he is a bit I suppose." The Tracy patriarch shrugged non-committally.

"Ah, well, with skills and teamwork like that, I reckon your boys would make an excellent addition to a rescue team."

"Really sir?"

"Yes, yes. In fact, I'd go as far to say, the best rescue team there is."

"Which one is that?"

"Oh come on man, surely you know who I'm talking about! International Rescue of course! Your boys would be excellent if they were part of that astounding organisation!"

"Really? I know my boys are good, but to go as far as to say that good." Jeff replied, somehow managing to maintain a poker face.

"Trust me, if they were part of International Rescue, they could save the world. You could always contact them and ask if they need any more operatives, it's perfectly simple, you can reach them on any frequency after all."

"I shall keep that in mind sir." Jeff smiled. "Now I must be going, we all have an important meeting we must attend this afternoon."

"An important meeting?" The Chief harrumphed. "That's no life for those boys of yours, Mr Tracy. They need excitement, adventure! Not spending their lives in a stuffy room watching endless power-points and doing paperwork."

"Trust me sir, they have enough excitement in their lives. It's not all budget meetings you know. Well, thank you for having us." He took the Chief's hand and shook it warmly before turning to walk back to his sons who were waiting for him.

Watching the famous businessman walk away from him, a sudden thought popped into the Fire Chief's head. "I say, what is it you chaps do at Tracy Enterprises anyway? Aeronautics or something?"

"Yes, something like that." Jeff replied with a smile. Good enough for International Rescue huh? If only this guy knew. If only he knew...


End file.
